What's next?
There are choices to be made.
You are either saved or you aren't. If you made the choice to confess your sins and accept God's gift of eternal salvation bought with the blood of His son, Jesus, you are saved.
(Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.)
You are either serving Him or you aren't. You made the choice to...what?
Serve as a Sunday School teacher, deacon, bible study leader, usher, greeter, secretary, bus driver, youth leader, VBS teacher, program coordinator, pastor, music leader, musician, janitor, repair person, soundboard operator, kitchen staff, visitor of the homebound, sender of the cards, prayer chain coordinator, ladies' or men's meeting leader, prayer warrior, person who welcomes visitors with a sincere smile and kind words, choir member, or (fill in the blank because I'm sure I didn't list all of the possible ways to serve in your church).
And that is great.
You probably remember the day you asked Jesus to live in your heart and you probably remember the day you were baptized as milestones in your faith. You may also remember when you were backslidden and when you rededicated your life to Christ because well...without Him you were on the way to Hell and that is no place to spend eternity.
But do you remember when you chose to serve Him? Do you remember the day you were asked to perform a certain duty or fulfill a particular role within the church body? Do you remember how excited you were while you also doubted your worthiness to such a calling? Are you remembering the first time or the next? Or the one after that? Are you realizing that you cannot even count the number of times you have felt that same tug at your heart to go forth and serve God in a capacity that you desired (and even prayed for!) but at the same time feared?
Just long enough to remind yourself that fear is not from God.
Your testimony of serving Christ should continually need editing.
In a song called "The Stand", Hillsong sings these words:
"So what could I say?
And what could I do?
But offer this heart, O God
Completely to You"
Completely.
In Luke chapter 10, Jesus emphasizes the importance of loving God with all that you have.
"25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."
Not after we serve ourselves, but first.
Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
So what does this look like in REAL LIFE? Real life is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, not just the time we spend when we step through the portal of the place called "church".
We call those beautiful buildings churches, but the REAL church is US. WE are the church and WE are the CHURCH BODY.
Where ever we go, in our real lives, in every minute of every day, that is church.
"So what could I say?
And what could I do?
But offer this heart, O God
Completely to You"
Because He DIED for us. A bloody, gruesome, torturous death so that we MIGHT be saved.
Because He gave his BEST so that even at our worst, we still have HOPE in Him.
He sent His only son as a newborn baby to DIE for our unworthy, wretched, and sinful selves.
"So what could I say?
And what could I do?
But offer this heart, O God
Completely to You"
COMPLETELY.
Now what does that look like in real life? In your life? In your service to Him? You are the only person with you every minute of every day so you and God are the only ones who know.
And what God knows about you is all that matters.
"So I'll stand, with arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all
So I'll stand, my soul, Lord, to You surrendered
All I am is Yours" ~ Hillsong
Completely His. I am nothing and have nothing without Him. <3
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